New Partners

Celebration, Orientation and Induction

As you plan the orientation of your new partners, give consideration to the many ways you can accelerate the journey from associate to partner – from employee to owner.

How many lawyers will your firm welcome to the partnership this year?

How will you celebrate that event?

What does your firm do in order to accelerate their development as partners and leaders of the firm in the future?

What does partnership mean to you?

More, what does partnership mean to them?

by Karen MacKay, MBA, CHIC
President

There are few moments of true celebration in a professional career. In law, being called to the bar is one, and making partner is another. Both
of these events should be celebrated far more
than they are. Oh yes, plan to celebrate the day
you retire, too – you’ll have earned it.

In response to the growing numbers of associates
who say they aren’t interested, many Canadian
law firms are conducting sessions for associates
in an effort to demystify partnership. As some
would say, making partner is akin to a pie-eating
contest where the prize is more pie – a ticket to
more work, more stress, and the liabilities of
ownership. Essentially, some associates see the
reward for doing a good job as more work. As a
law firm leader, you need to ask an important
question: what does partnership really mean in
your firm? Does it mean job security, or do you
need to make partner every year in order to stay
in the partnership?

This new focus on career development is a recent
trend, and generally this focus exists only in
firms large enough to justify a non-practicing
lawyer who will develop and deliver
programming. Most current partners were likely
told “if you stay around long enough, you’ll
figure these things out.” Most current partners
didn’t have access to the kind of support the
younger associates enjoy today. Indeed, many
partners, particularly in larger firms, don’t really
know how the firm is managed and what the
indicators of profitability and durability are
unless they have been in a management role.
Take the time to properly orient your new
partners in their new role, responsibilities, and
challenges. Here’s an overview of some areas
you need to touch on.

Capital Contributions and Personal Liability

In many firms, there’s a delay between the
invitation to join the partnership and the date the
new position takes effect. During that gap, firms
in this position take the time to orient their new
partners on the financial side of the business.
Should capital contributions be required, these
firms introduce new partners to the firm’s banker
so that arrangements for capital loans can be
made. If your firm is naked in/naked out, talk to
new partners about the value of what they are
inheriting. As well, your management team
should provide information on personal liability
risks, so new partners have time to organize their
personal affairs and to, perhaps, get the house
transferred to a partner or spouse.

Compensation, Draws and Benefits

While it may be obvious to partners that most
firms won’t have the upcoming year’s draw
schedule figured out until the compensation
process is complete, it’s far from apparent to
those associates about to cross the threshold.
Explain how new partners will be paid during the
first three months, and how their draw will be set
for their first year as a partner. Explain that they
are now responsible for benefit premiums and
how group benefit plans are designed – in
particular, that partners cannot opt out of the
group plan and why this is the case.

Improving the strength of a law firm is about
talent management, succession planning, and
performance improvement, as well as
leadership: about leading self, leading others,
and leading in the legal community so that you
make the firm stronger.

About the Firm

No matter how much you think your firm
communicates with its associates, these new
partners have been insulated from management
issues within the firm. These recent invitees are
often unaware of the firm’s history and how the
firm is run. Make it a priority to educate them on
the scope of the managing partner’s
responsibilities, the mandate of the executive
committee, and the types of issues that are taken
to a vote of the partnership. If your firm has a
strategic plan in place, this orientation period is a
good time to talk it through and explain how
practice groups and individuals support that plan.
Finally, new partners need to know what the key
performance indicators are. Remember, before
making partner, associates live in a world where
their billable hours are the only performance
indicator they worried about. New partners need
to know the indicators of profitability and
durability so they can begin to influence those
key performance factors as they begin to have
influence within the firm.

Leadership

The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago.
The second best time is today.

– Chinese proverb (in The Speed of Trust,
by William M.R. Covey)

Much has been written about the lack of future
leaders. How many managing partners have a
talent pool of future leaders at various stages of
succession? Lawyers are trained in law – and
with few exceptions, they’re not formally trained
in management and leadership. Leadership
succeeds where its importance is recognized and
nurtured.

There is no time like the present to begin
developing future leaders in your firm. In the
words of John C. Maxwell in his book The 360
Degree Leader, “leadership is influence, nothing
more, nothing less.” Leaders, he goes on to say,
have two characteristics – “they are going
somewhere and they can convince people to
follow.”

Another attribute equally important in a
partnership is followership. Followership does
not mean acting like sheep. Partners should be
encouraged to ask good questions, to debate the
issues that are important to their firm. Partners
also elect colleagues to leadership roles in the
firm. Followership is about supporting decisions – about walking the talk and about acting
sometimes in spite of doubt.

Conversations about leadership help to create a
common language that will create both a
foundation and a future for your firm.

Stewardship

All partners have a duty to leave a firm stronger
that it was when they joined – and that’s a tall
order. Improving the strength of a law firm is
about talent management, succession planning,
and performance improvement, as well as
leadership: about leading self, leading others,
and leading in the legal community so that you
make the firm stronger. In order to ensure good
stewardship of your firm, talk to new partners
early – encourage a mindset of stewardship. You
owe this to the generations that follow you.

Trust

Probably one of the most engaging business
books I am reading as I write this article is The
Speed of Trust, by Stephen M. R. Covey. Covey
articulates things about trust that many of us
have felt but couldn’t put into words. He writes:

“Trust is a function of two things – character and
competence. Character includes your integrity,
your motive and your intent with people.
Competence includes your capabilities, your
skills, your results and your track record …
results are vital to establishing trust and that we
have to hit our numbers every month. When we
achieve them, the organization trusts us more,
our leaders trust us more, our peers trust us more
… everyone trust us more. When we don’t, we
lose trust and budgetary support. It’s that
simple.”

With your new partners – and frankly with every timekeeper in your firm – put the need to achieve their results in the context of trust. It might be one of the most important conversations you have.